Page 120 of By the Flames of Her Fury

“No,” the record keeper replied.

I pursed my lips. “Why not?”

“The Inner Sanctum is restricted. Only the High Elders may enter.”

Of course. That only piqued my curiosity more. Those in power keeping knowledge inaccessible to others triggered alarms in the back of my mind.

“But I’m the Lightbringer,” Vera insisted, stepping forward. “They let me in just yesterday. I wanted to check on something they showed me.”

The man merely shook his head. “You must have their permission.”

I could tell Vera was going to argue. I put out a hand to stop her and inclined my head to the record keeper. “Of course. We understand.”

I pivoted on my heels and walked away, Vera following close behind. “You’re just going to give up?” she hissed. “I can stride us in there in a heartbeat.”

“He would see it and alert the Elders,” I countered. “I know what to do. Just follow my lead.”

Mercifully, she didn’t object. I closed my eyes and focused on structuring my illusion, gathering my magic in the back of my mind and strengthening it with each heartbeat. I made it three steps before letting my illusion slip free. A second version of Vera and I continued walking back to the table. But the real me gripped Vera’s arm and pulled her into the shadows, forcing the illusion of light to hide us completely.

I held my breath as the record keeper watched our other halves walk away. He didn’t so much as blink when our real versions moved closer to the iron door. I kept the illusion of us steady while crafting another, making sure the door appeared shut while I opened it and we slipped inside.

The air inside the Inner Sanctum was colder, mustier. There was no fire, no golden balls of Lightbender magic to light the dark room. With a flick of her fingers, Vera sent light soaring in the space, illuminating the Inner Sanctum in an orange haze.

There was an enormous outline of a phoenix on the back wall, and shelves had been built into its body. Scrolls and tomes that appeared far older than the ones in the Hall of Archives filled the space, yellowed and cracked and gathering dust.

“I’ll look over here,” Vera said, pointing to the phoenix shelf full of scrolls.

I wandered to the far left, taking in the space. Against the wall, almost completely shrouded in darkness, was a tall, black lectern with an ancient leatherbound book resting on top. I ventured closer until I could see tiny, nearly illegible scrawls covering each page. They were so faded by time, I had to squint hard to make out a single word. I delicately turned page after page of tiny notes and diagrams until a drawing made me pause. It was another phoenix, as to be expected—this kingdom loved their firebird. But the inscription beneath read,

The eternal flame cannot dwell in the weak. It must come from the living vessel, which will be forged in the final days.

I flipped the page to find another drawing of the same phoenix, except something about it had changed. The curve of the beak softened into the shape of a nose. Human lips replaced the sharp point of its mouth, and its eyes looked less like a bird’s and more like a person’s. The body was strange, caught somewhere between feather and flesh, wings still stretched wide but with the outline of a torso beneath.

Another page, and the next drawing looked even more human-like. Bare skin took the place of feathers, and only the wings remained fully intact.

My stomach tightened. On the next page, the drawing morphed into a full human male, with sharp cheekbones and burning eyes.

One more page, and I jumped. The man’s face was contorted in a scream, his skin cracking like wood splitting open in a fire. I recoiled from the grotesque image. I didn’t know what I was looking at, but I swallowed my disgust and leaned closer to read the inscription beneath the image.

Early vessels were

But before I could decipher the rest, a low rumble shuddered through the floor.

“What was that?” Vera whispered.

I put a finger to my lips and turned to the door, worried someone had found us sneaking around, but we were still alone. Another tremor followed, and this one was stronger, a low groan coming from deep below my feet.

Vera’s wide eyes found mine. “We have to get out of here.”

56

Vera

We rushed through the palace and back to our wing. The earthquake had subsided, but small tremors still wracked the ground, enough to set me on edge as we made our way through the halls. I was surprised by how empty it was—I expected the staff to be clamoring around, but nobody was there.

We passed a pair of double doors leading to a courtyard near our rooms, and I came to a halt. The sky outside was no longer black. My lips parted as I stepped closer to the glass door. It was as if the sky was shimmering. Blue, green, yellow, color after color streaking across the blackness in glittering rays. Without thinking twice, I yanked the doors open and rushed down the marble steps.

“Where are you going?” Everett called after me.